What Azula's halucination of her mother tells us about her personality
(This was originally posted in the review section of the ATLA fanfiction Dominion by Aurelia Le. The text has been altered such so that any Dominion related stuff was either omitted or put in parantheses "[...]".)
Alright! Let's talk about Azula's halucinations.
Schizophrenia is a very interesting mental illness. [And clearly Azula in Dominion suffers from it, since her halucinations are consistent and haven't disappeard in four years!]
In order to understand the deeper meaning of her delusions, we have to understand what a so called 'archetype' is. The famous psychologist Carl G. Jung had a preculiar interest in schizophrenic people and studied them well. He looked into them and tried to understand, what their halucinations could tell about them. He observed all kind of different schizophrenic people from all over the world with different backgrounds, cultures and ethnicities and he would soon find, that there were patterns emerging.
Carl Jung would start categorizing all the different types of halucinations and would call them 'archetypes'. He just had discovered the ancient and deeply rooted mechanics of the human psyche. Turns out, what we call personality is not one whole thing, but rather a set of different subpersonalities each having different agendas. The halucinations and delusions of schizophrenics are real in the sense, that they represent the different archetypes residing deep within them. As opposed to non-schizophrenics, the subpersonalities of schizophrenics sip out of their unconscious and thus become a part of their conscious realm. Which means, that one advantage of having schizophrenia is, that one has deeper knowledge about those subpersonalities and their agendas. And those agendas can sometimes be very fucking scary ass shit!
[We already talked about two of the subpersonalities like the Shadow and the Anima/Animus. Those are archetypes!]
Let's use Azula as an example! Azula in the show is clearly possessed by the Nurtering Mother archetype. Clearly evident of her halucination of Ursa. Not because it has the shape of her real mother, but rather because of the way it presents itself as kind and loving, but also ready to point out genuine mistakes Azula did. Essentially saying: "You made some mistakes. But that's okay. I still love you!" And people were quick to believe, that this was the way Ursa really was behaving towards Azula. But that's not necessarily true! Remember, this is a subpersonality of Azula's and NOT the real Ursa. One could maybe argue, that it actually could be the Devouring Mother archetype, but personally I think that's a stretch and not the case.
So Azula is possessed by the Nurturing Mother archetype.
Let me say this again... Azula is possessed... BY THE FUCKING NURTURING MOTHER OF ALL FUCKING THINGS!
And this is canon! There is no disputing this!
Which means... against all expectations... Azula will most likely be a good mother! It's just baffling!
[In Dominion, when Azula finally meets Ursa, the Nurturing Mother disappears, so it appears. But in reality, with the company of her highly vulnerable mother and her pregnancy progressing she slowly BECOMES the Nurtering Mother. She is no longer fighting her motherly instincts (ironically by taking care of her mother), and more or less successfully integrates that archetype in her life. So it becomes dorment in her consciousness.]
[But here is the thing... In Dominion, Azula becomes also possessed by another archetype. Because by starting to listen to the Nurturing Mother, she also started repressing other subpersonalities of hers. I'm talking about the Tyrannical Father/King archetype. And sure enough, we get to see her being haunted by Ozai in chapter 28. For now she only hears his voice, but if she can't assert herself in the world soon, this voice will only grow in resentment and mutate into something her psyche will not be able to ignore. You do NOT repress an archetype. If you do, it will only strike back with vengeance! Instead, you feed it small bits once in a while and keep it in check, so it doesn't possess you.]
I think, what the most ideal situation for Azula is, is an environment, where she can satisfy both archetypes. After conquering Ba Sing Se, that was exactly, where she was. Surrounded by friends and family with enormous high political power. [I'm curious, how Dominion will handle her destructive tendencies. How she'll find a way to tame her Tyrannical King...]
